Mercedes Benz E350 vs Chevrolet Cavalier

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Mercedes Benz E350	Chevrolet Cavalier
Complaints on file	2,686	6,452
Model years covered	2003–2017	1982–2005
Worst model year	2014	1997
Best model year	2004	2005
Crashes reported	142	554
Fires reported	78	167
Injuries reported	112	369
Deaths reported	3	21
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	12.5%	17.2%

Mercedes Benz E350 by year

10 11 17 482 398 220 76 229 265 260 215 378 40 74 11

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 765 28.5%

Airbags 397 14.8%

Engine & Cooling 218 8.1%

Brakes 204 7.6%

Electrical System 166 6.2%

Other & Unspecified 134 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 124 4.6%

Suspension 117 4.4%

Chevrolet Cavalier by year

1 17 10 4 21 27 14 71 70 77 178 237 310 392 748 751 473 337 447 356 254 867 428 362

82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Electrical System 1,252 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 839 13.0%

Brakes 717 11.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 652 10.1%

Steering 415 6.4%

Airbags 346 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 332 5.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 322 5.0%